Thursday, 18 April 2013

Mitchell & Butler Mild and Family Ale 1935 - 1993

Thinking. It can be a terrible thing. Posting about Ansell's beers reminded me of M & B, thie duopoly pals in Birmingham. You can probably guess where this is going. Especially if you bothered to read the title of this post.

Remember me saying that I was surprised by how few analyses of Ansell's beers I had? The same isn't true of M & B. I've got so many analyses that they won't fit neatly into a single post. Which is why I'm spinning it out to a series of posts.

I'll be honest about the Family Ale. I'm not quite sure what style you would call it. As it's not far in colour from their Mild Ale, I've lumped it with that.

Which brings me onto another point: the relatively pale colour of both Ansell's and M & B's Mild. 40 EBC is about the colour of Newcastle Brown - the netherworld between pale and dark, in my eyes. It's no surprise that the Milds of the two companies were broadly similar. They were competing head-to-head in the same market.

The gravities track each other in a similar way, around 1038º in the 1950's, 1035-1036º in the 1970's and 1980's. The Keg Mild is obviously simply the Mild kegged. Noy such a shock, really.

By the time I drank M & B Mild, I'm sure it was darker. A typical Dark Mild colour, so about 80-90 EBC. I wonder when it turned darker?

The Brown Ale, you may have noticed, is considerably darker than the Mild. But the gravity is close, so my guess would be that it's the Milds darkened with sugar or caramel.

Mitchell & Butler Mild and Family Ale 1935 - 1993

Year

Beer

Style

Price

size

package

Acidity

FG

OG

colour

ABV

App. Atten-uation

1935

Family Ale

Ale

pint

bottled

0.05

1008

1040

34

4.2

80.00%

1951

Family Ale

Ale

1/1.5d

pint

bottled

0.04

1007.5

1034.5

30 B

3.5

78.26%

1951

Family Ale

Ale

1/2.5d

half

bottled

0.07

1007.4

1034

28

3.5

78.24%

1953

Family Ale

Ale

1/3.5d

pint

bottled

0.05

1007.3

1033.4

33 B

3.4

78.14%

1955

Sam Brown

Brown Ale

11.5d

half

bottled

0.05

1011.2

1036.9

85

3.3

69.65%

1949

XX

Mild

1/6d

pint

draught

0.05

1003.9

1034.6

35 Brown

4.0

88.73%

1949

Mild Ale

Mild

1/1d

pint

draught

0.1

1003.5

1034.5

38.5 B

4.0

89.86%

1950

Mild Ale

Mild

1/1d

pint

draught

0.04

1005.4

1034.6

37 Brown

3.8

84.39%

1950

Mild Ale

Mild

1/5d

pint

draught

0.05

1003.8

1034.5

38 B

4.0

88.99%

1950

X

Mild

15d

pint

draught

1038.4

41

1961

Keg Mild

Mild

19d

pint

draught

0.04

1009.9

1038.5

45

3.6

74.29%

1962

Keg Mild

Mild

22d

pint

draught

0.05

1007

1038.3

50

3.9

81.72%

1963

Keg Mild

Mild

20d

pint

draught

0.04

1010.2

1037.9

50

3.5

73.09%

1966

Mild

Mild

19d

pint

draught

0.05

1005

1036.9

45

4.0

86.45%

1972

Mild

Mild

11-13p

pint

draught

1009.8

1034.5

3.2

71.59%

1977

Mild

Mild

pint

draught

1034.6

1979

Mild

Mild

pint

draught

1034.6

1981

Mild

Mild

pint

draught

1034.6

1982

Mild

Mild

pint

draught

1036

1983

Mild

Mild

pint

draught

1035

1986

Mild

Mild

pint

draught

1036

1989

Mild

Mild

pint

draught

1009.8

1036

3.4

72.78%

1993

M&B Mild Ale

Mild

draught

1008.1

1033.5

48

3.3

75.82%

Sources:

Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan
Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/001

Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan
Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002

Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15

1993 Real Ale Drinker's Almanac

Truman Gravity Book held at the London Metropolitan Archives,
document number B/THB/C/252